Lean Methodology in Design and Construction
In 2017 Snøhetta, together with our client, Statsbygg, and their colleagues from Atkins, designed and developed the book, “Lean methodology in design and construction”. We wanted to share our experiences from detail design to finalization of the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design ("KMD") in Bergen.
Together with our co-authors, Rambøll, and a big construction team, we recognized a potential to further challenge existing industry standards by developing new Lean key principles in the complex merge of design, construction, process planning and BIM technology. Some of these were “Milestone Planning” and “Systematic Completing”.
Key questions that emerged during the design process for Snøhetta were whether it could be possible to transfer Lean philosophy into the complex exchange of dynamic and iterative information in the design phase. Can knowledge-based information flows be broken down into manageable packages, allowing the designers to move forward in the same rhythm in alignment? Can we use design as a production line consisting of smaller packages of continuous flows of information embedded in one common project?
Please find a free sample of the book in English here, and Norwegian, here. We hope our sharing encourages further dialogue and reflection and contributes to an already improving industry.
Our learnings from long-term agile leadership and practice in the fields of architecture, brand- and product-design was exchanged with knowledge from highly skilled professionals in the project team. Milestone Planning became the guide, and together with the cross-disciplinary team, the BIM-model became the product, seamlessly merging from the virtual to the physical, known today as a “Digital Twin”.
The experiences from the project inspired us to develop our own project management system, SNOflow. In our day-to-day work we found a need for simpler ways to handle the continuously rising complexities and amounts of information flow. SNOflow consist of a few carefully selected milestones, enabling our projects leaders and teams to maneuver through all the phases of design. Together we have started the development of a wayfinding system that aims towards simplicity in guidance, without compromising innovation and involvement of stakeholders.
